Friday, December 7, 2012

Lawyer to defend imprisoned activist in Vietnam

Marshall-Wythe School of Law professor Linda Malone will act as pro-bono counsel for Nguyen Quoc Quan. COURTESY PHOTO / WMNEWS

She has served as co-counsel to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Paraguay and
as counsel in Supreme Court cases such as Padilla vs. Rumsfeld. Now,
Marshall-Wythe Foundation professor Linda Malone of the Marshall-Wythe
School of Law will act as pro-bono counsel for Nguyen Quoc Quan, an
American democracy activist who has been detained in Vietnam since April
17, 2012.
Quan, a member of the Vietnamese reform group Viet Tan, was arrested
in the Tan Son Nhat International Airport before departure to the United
States on charges of organizing terrorist activities.
“Quite clearly, the only thing that he has done is distribute
materials and encourage people to advocate for a more democratic
government in Vietnam,” Malone said. “I just got the indictment
translated into English, and that’s exactly what they say he’s done but
it’s characterized as subversion.”
A Vietnamese law that allows for political prisoners to be held
without trial for four months, a period which can be renewed three
times, deprived Quan of due process and legal counsel until his November
hunger strike pressured the Vietnamese government into granting him
access to lawyers. Malone took the case after being approached by the
American Bar Association Center for Human Rights.
International relations professor Katherine Rahman sees this deprivation as a strategic point in the case.
“There are international standards for what constitutes due process
and those one can make reference to,” Rahman said. “The right to due
process is just a basic human right.”
Malone will advise Quan’s Vietnamese defense lawyers on international
law and while in the United States. she will continue to lobby the
State Department as well as the Department of Justice to bring up the
issue with Vietnamese officials.
“Because this man is an American citizen, the
United States has the right, if not the obligation, to do things in
order to try to make sure what’s happening to him is reasonable and
fair,” Rahman said. “However, an international standard — a universal
standard—that says you always have these kinds of rights may or may not
be something that a state is going to push for even at the best of
times.”
Much of Malone’s value lies in her ability to bring visibility to the
case, according to government professor Maurits van der Veen.
“Everyone knows that Vietnam still violates human rights — the less
people that know about what Vietnam does, the better it is for Vietnam,”
van der Veen said. “For this guy’s defense and for international human
rights purposes, you want maximum visibility.”
However, Malone is skeptical of the Vietnamese justice system.
“The mere fact that these charges have been filed indicates that
it’ll be very difficult for him to have a fair trial,” Malone said.
Malone emphasized the need for students to become involved.
“This is a very clear human rights violation where support on the
local, national and international level would be helpful,” Malone said.